2 Review QuestionsHOW DID the Islamic world deal with its steppeland neighbors?WHAT STRENGTHS did the Turks bring to the Islamic world?HOW DID Byzantine civilization combine religious and secular values?HOW DID Byzantium survive? How far can it be said to have “declined”?HOW DID the crusades affect the Islamic world and Byzantium?HOW DID Song China deal with the northern barbarians?WHY DO nomads and settled peoples tend to be enemies?

3 How did the Islamic world deal with its steppeland (nomadic) neighbors?A widely dispersed civilization, many resource centers: Egypt, Baghdad, Cordoba, Damascus, Mecca, etc.Islam, a universal religionJihad appealing to warrior culturesEmpire as a melting pot of culturesArabs a minority from the beginning of empireTolerance for new convertsThe threat from Seljuk Turks:Seize Baghdad in 1055Yet their military abilities needed by the Abbasid caliphsTurks converted, religiously and culturally adopting urban lifestylesWars against other factions within the empire: conquering Anatolia, Armenia from Christians; Syria, Palestine from ShiitesWhy is Islam different from Europe/China in dealing with nomadic neighbors?

4 Reaction of Byzantines to Nomadic InvadersMilitary defeat: Bulgars by Basil IIColonization of the Balkans by SlavsInteraction of the Slavs & Byzantines: Christianity as a middle ground--missionaries invent alphabet for Slav languagesChristianity legitimizing rulers: Slavs, RussiansReligious diplomacy & “gifts” (bribes) from Byzantine rulers = commonwealth of Christian states surrounding Byzantine empireMilitary defeat Basil II defeats Bulgars, 1018, makes peace with ArabsAfter Basil II, political and military fortunes of the empire failed, Turkish migrations and invasions overcome Byzantium from the east

5 Reaction of Europe to Nomadic ThreatLong isolated from Eurasia, Western Europe develops a siege mentalityCrusade as important turning point for Europeans involvement in Mideast, Islamic/Byzantine regipmsEurope incorporates two groups of nomadic raiders by 1000: Magyars and Vikings.Pope Urban II and declaring war on heathens (see online reading)A route to wealth for the churchCapture of Jerusalem, 1099Creation of Crusader statesRole of Knights Templar

6 Reaction of Song China to Nomadic ThreatChina, like Byzantium, considers others to be “barbarians.”Unlike Byzantium, there was a long history of Chinese culture being adopted by foreign invaders.Tang Dynasty: ends in 9th century, political disintegrationUighur invasions of Yellow river region, increase in banditryDissolution of Tang in 907, shift to Ten Kingdoms (warlordism reasserts itselfRise of Song Dynasty, 960--lasts until 1279Sharing territory with steppeland nomadic invadersKhitan state of Liao in Mongolia/ManchuriaXia state develops between Tibet and Gobi desertJurchen gradually intrude on Liao territory. Assimilate Chinese culture

7 Reaction to Nomads: Success and FailureThe most insular (Byzantines) were the biggest failures.Song China, though not Chinese culture and civilization, succumbs to foreign invaders.Western Europe is nearly defeated by Vikings, SlavsThe Islamic Empire is a great melting pot of culturesIslamic religion is simple and flexible enough to incorporate new peoples with little difficulty.

8 Today’s Question What will China do?ConsiderThe precocious economic development of Song ChinaThe historical weight China has always had in world historyThe illusion created by the last two centuries, during which bad government and Western industrialization eclipsed China’s traditional placeThat China still has a preponderance in the most basic commodity of global influence, numbers of people who share a homogenous cultureHave the last two centuries been an aberration?Will China again reemerge as the global superpower, as it has time and again, sometime in this century?What would be the implications of such a development ?